Instagram Archives - Page 3 of 4

Instagram Stories, Snapchat Olympic Filters

August 5, 2016

Instagram Throws Down Gauntlet, Introduces Instagram Stories

Instagram stepped things up quite a bit this week with the introduction of “Instagram Stories”, which allows users to catalogue and share a number of pictures or videos taken throughout the day to help avoid “overposting.”
Instagram Stories work similar to Snapchat Stories in that they will disappear after 24 hours and allow users to draw on and add fun images to your content.

Already, some outlets are claiming Instagram Stories are superior to Snapchat Stories, but it remains to be seen if the new tool will add a nail in Snapchat’s coffin – as it clearly is meant to do.

Snapchat Goes for the Gold

Speaking of Snapchat, the social network is getting into the spirit of the Olympics with special filters, lenses and stickers. The Rio Summer Olympics (which kick off today) are also getting a special NBC Olympics channel on its Discover section to help users keep up on all of the excitement no matter where they are.

Snapchat is even curating Live Stories from some countries (U.S. included) that will highlight some great moments from the games.

Another interesting (and very cool, in my opinion) function will include country-specific geofilters that will automatically display medal counts by country. Of course, if you aren’t in Rio you’ll only be able to look on from afar, but at least Snapchat is making it interesting for those in attendance for the games!

Instagram Business Pages Rollout, Facebook Business Pages Change

July 22, 2016

Instagram Business Pages Now Available

The big news this week involves those Instagram Business Pages we told you about a few months ago. Well, they’re here! Several TwoSix Digital clients noticed the option to switch over to the new page through their page settings – and they look great!

The new Business Pages provide more options to include information on your business including a phone number, address and email along with a “Contact” button.

Perhaps one of the most exciting additions to Instagram Business Profiles is the access to free analytics. Businesses and social media managers will now be able to access key information on posts and followers without the use of a third party app or website.

While it is not mandatory to switch over right now, it may only be a matter of time before accounts are forced over to used the new profile. Social Media Examiner has a great article on how to switch over and set up your Instagram Business Profile here. Read more

Instagram Analytics and New Twitter Changes

May 27, 2016

Instagram Analytics Coming to Business Pages

News recently came out about new Instagram brand pages that businesses would soon be able to use to better market themselves and their brands. Now, it appears the Facebook-owned platform will take a page from its parent company and provide business pages with useful Instagram analytics.

Some of the useful information reportedly being provided includes:

Follower demographics including location and gender and age
Most active time during the day of followers
Post and engagement data

Instagram Logo Redesign and Twitter Video Views

May 13, 2016

Instagram logo redesign

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the years it’s that people go a bit crazy when a social network changes something – anything – about the way something looks or how it functions. That certainly proved to be the case when a new Instagram logo was unveiled along with a slightly redesigned look to the platform. Instagram’s sister apps (Boomerang, Layout and Hyperlapse) received similar redesigns to their logos.

Essentially, the logo changed from the vintage camera to a newer more colorful gradient design with the look inside the platform being black and white and “puts more focus on photos and videos without changing how you navigate the app”. Read more

Instagram Brand Pages

May 6, 2016

First look at Instagram brand pages

Companies and brands may soon have the ability to update their profiles to create Instagram brand pages similar to those already on Facebook. These new brand pages appear to only be available and visible to select users right now but offer some interesting new features that could be of great use to businesses and marketers.

Right now, Instagram’s algorithm has no way of determining a brand page versus a personal page. When a business or brand creates one of these pages they will have the option to categorize their page to let users know what kind of business they are.

Looking at the image to the right you’ll also see a “Contact” button prominently featured. Once this is clicked the option to get directions or email the business pops up. Interestingly, Instagram is giving users the options to email the business instead of using the native messaging feature (at least at this stage of development). There also seems to be a sort of cover photo that will appear above a page’s collection of pictures. Read more

Facebook Messenger Team Up, How-to Pins, Longer Instagram Videos

April 1, 2016

Boarding with Facebook Messenger

In what could be the first of many, airline KLM is integrating with Facebook Messenger to make it easier to fly. Using Facebook Messenger, KLM passengers will be able to receive their itinerary, flight updates, check-in notifications, get boarding passes and even rebook fights when needed.

KLM previously embraced social media by giving travelers the ability to book tickets via Facebook and Twitter, but this utilization of Facebook Messenger is an unprecedented move and could mark the beginning of a shift in the airline industry. Read more

Instagram Algorithm Changes Feed as Engagement, Growth Fall

March 18, 2016

Instagram algorithm to change what is served first

The news that sent shockwaves through the Instagram community this week came as the company announced it would change users’ feeds to display content differently than the classic chronological order.

The company announced the change in a blog post earlier this week, noting that because of the old chronological format many users missed out on seeing lots of content – especially if they followed numerous accounts. The Instagram algorithm will work to shore up what the platform most relevant to users (similar to what parent company Facebook does), but that all of the published content would still be in our feeds.

Longer Video Ads, Algorithm Tweaks and Air Travel Demand

February 5, 2016

Instagram rolls out 60 second video ads, multiple account switching

While there are several reports indicating our attention spans are getting shorter, Instagram is doubling down on video ads by unveiling 60 second ads that will soon be widely available.

A statement from Instagram said the longer video ads would allow advertisers to tell unique stories that better tell their brand message.

Although only a handful of advertisers would have access to these longer video ads (just in time for a certain big game this weekend…) the wider advertiser base would have access at a later date.

Additionally, some iOS users can now switch between multiple Instagram accounts without repeatedly signing out and signing back in. The feature is already available to Android users, but appears to be a slower rollout (for now) on iOS.

Facebook tweaks the news feed algorithm…again

Supposedly Facebook’s new algorithm tweak to newsfeeds may help increase engagement due to qualitative feedback being used to deliver more relevant content to users. To help with this adjustment Facebook is utilizing a team of tens of thousands of users it calls its Feed Quality Panel to rate experiences every day to help improve what kinds of content is served up and cut down posts we don’t care to see.

Two Facebook software engineers explained that this update should not impact reach or referral traffic for most pages. Declines in referral traffic may occur if “the rate at which their stories are clicked on does not match how much people report wanting to see those stories near the top of their News Feed. This update helps rebalance those two factors, so people are seeing relevant stories to them.”

In short, avoid posting and encouraging actions on your posts which may deliver a short term increase in engagement because “temporary spikes in metrics might then be rebalanced by feed’s ranking over time.”

Global demand for air travel surges

The dark days of the global recession appear to be only memories for the airline industry. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released the 2015 global passenger traffic results and the numbers are good. The numbers show demand rose 6.5% last year compared to 2014. This marked the best year since the supposed Financial Crisis rebound of 2010.

These numbers were aided by an increase in capacity and all regions experiencing positive traffic growth, but carriers in the Asia-Pacific region accounted for one-third of the total increase.

Video Tourism, Easier Custom Audiences, Most Instagrammed Places

December 4, 2015

Video’s Impact on Tourism

Attractive and compelling visual elements are easy ways to hook peoples’ imaginations and desires when it comes to travel and tourism. We see something amazing and we want to go. Over the past few years, the rise of video as a medium on mobile devices has grown significantly – and that remains true for tourism as well.

New information from Google UK sheds some light on why people engage with video when researching and looking up information for travel.

Nearly 50% of travelers watched video online before deciding where to go on a trip.
65% use video when thinking about taking a trip.
67% are using video when choosing their destination and which activities to enjoy.
63% use video when deciding on accommodations.

While this data is focused on the UK, it provides a good sample example of how important the use of compelling and informational video can be when selecting and planning a trip.

Custom Audiences Made Easier

One of the great tools from Facebook is the ability to create a custom audiences from pixels and email addresses for advertising retargeting. It allows advertisers to reach a specific audience they want to engage with. Fortunately, Facebook is making it even easier to create such groups.
Announced this week, multiple data types with real-time matching will be added to the custom audiences tool. Previously, advertisers were limited to only one type at a time.

This means that the following data types will be used to help match people on Facebook and create a custom audience:

Email
Phone number
Mobile advertiser ID
First name
Last name
Date of birth
Gender
City
State
ZIP code
Country

This change means that by uploading a customer list to the custom audience tool the tool will use more points of data at once to create a list while improving accuracy.

The World’s Most Instagrammed Places

It’s no secret people enjoy posting pictures of their travels and vacations on Instagram. That’s probably why there are more than 353 million pieces of travel-related content on the social platform. However, which places around the world are getting the most attention?

According to Skift, these are the top five most geotagged locations on Instagram this year:

Disney Properties
Universal Studios Properties
Times Square, New York City
Central Park
Eiffel Tower

Worth noting is that Disney held the top spot last year as well! For the rest of the top 10 most Instagrammed locations in the world, click here.

Facebook Boosts Search, Instagram Launches Boomerang

October 23, 2015

Facebook, social network and…search giant?

Credit: Facebook

Facebook sees 1.5 billion searches each day and has indexed more than 2 trillion posts so, needless to say, there’s an opportunity that the social network is looking to explore there. This week the company announced some new steps being taken to help users find content related to searches. Some of the new features include:

Better search suggestions to bring up more relevant content when you begin typing your search (similar to Google).

Posts from your friends will show up if a search is performed with a topic they posted about. Example: Derek Adams post about being at game 5 of the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals if a search about Stanley Cup Finals is performed.

Public posts relating to a topic being searched will come up to allow users to dive in and engage in discussion with others.

These new changes should be made available to you soon if they are not already.

Instagram throws a Boomerang out there

A new standalone app from Instagram, called Boomerang, want to let you experiment and use one second video loops – similar to a GIF. This app (available now), lets you shoot either one second of video or allows you to loop five photos together into a video that plays and then reverses in a loop over and over again.

The interesting thing is that Boomerang doesn’t even require an Instagram account to start going out there and creating your own GIFs now! See how Boomerang can be used below!

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